Derby (Kan.) High tight end DeAndre Goolsby announces his decision to choose the University of Florida for his college football.

Derby (Kan.) High tight end DeAndre Goolsby announces his decision to choose the University of Florida for his college football.

Brian Goolsby said Tuesday that his son, DeAndre, knows exactly what he’s getting into at the University of Florida, or he would not have committed to the Gators.

Fortunately for Florida, DeAndre Goolsby, a standout tight end at Derby (Kan.) High, committed to UF on Friday, a day before the Gators’ humiliating 34-17 loss to Vanderbilt in Gainesville. That dropped UF to 4-5 on the season with three games remaining at South Carolina, and at home against Georgia Southern and Florida State.

Goolsby talked about his son during a blustery, 27-degree day in Derby, which is just outside Wichita. Obviously the Florida weather was a nice attraction for DeAndre, but the dad also said reassurances that things would get better from UF recruiter Derek Lewis, the Gators’ tight ends coach, made things more comforting.

“DeAndre kinda looked at that … but when you start looking at the injuries and how they were already going in young at the skill positions and stuff like that … it didn’t really bother him,” said the father, who played fullback at Kansas State in the mid-90s. “He knows what’s coming back, as far as skill guys, and once you get people healthy, it will probably be a different story.”

The young Goolsby, who doesn’t do many interviews, is a highly touted flex tight end with good speed and hands. His numbers are pretty good despite playing in a run-oriented offense at Derby High. He’s rated as the No. 3 tight end in the country by Rivals.com, and the No. 15 tight end in the 247Sports composite rankings. He has 27 catches for 400 yards this season.

“Don’t get me wrong, he’s hearing stuff every day about how people aren’t going to survive and all that and it doesn’t help when you’ve just made your decision,” Goolsby said, “but the coaching staff at Florida let us know early that with injuries and all ... this stuff was going to start happening and to not worry about it. They were confident in him and he’s confident in them, so it was kind of a match made.”

DeAndre Goolsby said during his announcement Friday, "Right now, their record doesn't really bother me, because I know we'll go in there and change some things around."

Plenty of schools will be tugging at the 6-foot-5, 225-pound tight end between now and National Signing Day. He picked Florida over Kansas State, Arkansas and Ohio State, and those schools are not likely to let up.

“He’s 100 percent, but he’s still getting calls every day and he’s turning people down, telling them he’s 100 percent with Florida,” said Dad. “Only way he wouldn’t be is if something drastic happened, like if they let the whole staff go. I think that would be the only thing that would deter him from going down there.”

DeAndre is also a January enrollee, so his decision-making process has been somewhat expedited. He had to make sure his decision was solid since he’ll be packing his bags in a little more than a month to head to Gainesville.

“Tell his mom,” the dad laughed. “She cries about it every morning.”

The former K-Stater said he didn’t try to sway his son to play for his former coach, Bill Snyder.

“When I was coming up, I always told myself I would never tell my kid where to go … only thing I’d do was help him and that’s pretty much what I’ve done,” said Goolsby, an all-state running back in his day at Dodge City High. “DeAndre’s pretty quiet. He’s got all this stuff going on with people knowing who he is, but he sits back and really analyzes everything. I knew once he felt good with a situation, he’s kinda stubborn that way, so he was stuck on it. Whatever choice he made, I felt good about it.

“It was a special time for him, but also a hectic time. We’re just glad it’s over.”

Goolsby is the second athletic, flex-type tight end in the Gators 2014 class, joining C'yontai Lewis (6-5, 215) of Kingwood Christian School in Alabaster, Ala. UF has 15 commitments in the 2014 group.

This time, something strange and wonderful happened. The skies cleared, the rain stopped and the starving blind man gorged himself on a much-needed victory and finally regained his sight ¿ the vision of making the playoffs.